


Hand-Me-Downs

by MidnightCitizen



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 18:08:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17606321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightCitizen/pseuds/MidnightCitizen
Summary: Daniel was used to hand-me-downs from his brother.But sometimes they meant more than new things.





	Hand-Me-Downs

**Author's Note:**

> Short little fic from an idea that hit me while I was listening to the LIS 2 soundtrack.

  For as long as he could remember, Sean had always had that backpack. It’s been through a lot – sleepovers, hanging out in the skate park, and school. Daniel always got jealous over the fact that something as simple as a bag could do so much more with his big brother than he could. No matter what he tried to do , his brother would shut him down and tell him that he was too young to hang out with big kids.

  Things have changed in a lot of ways, though. They’re on the run from the police and the bag that his brother carried around for years was his now. It wasn’t so satisfying, now. Something about the circumstances made all of this a little weird. He never thought he would ever get Sean’s backpack. Daniel always matched that bag to his brother.

Yet…. Here it was.  
Sitting in front of him on the floor of the room their grandparent’s were allowing them to stay in. Their life had changed so quickly and even the littlest wishes from before were snuffed in the need to survive.

  Reaching a hand out, he let his hand linger on the fabric of the bag. There was multiple frays on the fabric from how much Sean had thrown it around when he owned it. Some of these frays he knew was because of recent events. They had done so much since their ….—their father’s death.  
Their grandmother almost had a heart attack at the sight of them all dirty. They were forced to clean and their bags weren’t safe from Claire’s need for clean.

“Danny?”

  Daniel’s eyes glanced over to the door of their room ( it felt so odd to call this guest room their room … but their grandparents already said that they would be staying with them ). Sean stood in the door frame, his eyes focused on Daniel. He had a pile of laundry – probably theirs—in his hand.

“What is it, Sean?”

  Daniel watched as his brother entered the room, staring to put away their clothes in the wardrobe. Sean stayed silent for a while and the silence was killing Daniel. But Sean closed the wardrobe door and moved over to his little brother, sitting by him on the bed. Daniel gently pushed the bag to the side so it didn’t seem so obvious he was still so excited about owning his brother’s old bag.

“How do you like the bag?”

  Sean smiled at Daniel, laying back on the bed , resting his hands against his stomach as he stared at the ceiling. Daniel hadn’t seen Sean so laid back in a while. Being at their grandparents made things more relaxing. They felt … safer.

  They had every reason to.

  They had a roof, food, warmth, and a comfortable bed to rest in. They didn’t have to worry about finding food or where they would sleep next. It was all so nice.

  Daniel didn’t know how long they would get to have this nice place. Everything seemed to happen to them and he was scared that they wouldn’t have this comfort anymore. But for now… he let himself relax.

  After all, Sean was enjoying himself, too.

“It’s great?”

  Sean laughed at Daniel’s response , sitting up again and grabbing his former bag. He started to look at it and Daniel felt like they were back home. Like they were about to get on the bus to go to school. Like Lyla was waiting for them on the bus, waving and giving them one of her warm smiles.

  They would never get to experience that again.

  He could feel the warm feeling in his cheeks and could feel the tears before he could even process that he was crying.

“Danny? What’s wrong?”

  Daniel shook his head, rubbing at his eyes and bit back a sob pitifully. He didn’t want to do this anymore. He wanted to go back home. He wanted to see dad again.  
He wanted to go back to the stupid homework and stupid school. He would anything to go back to spend another day with his dad.

  Sean moved over, wrapping his arms around Daniel and holding him close. Daniel was so happy to have his brother still. He had no idea what he would do without him. He’s the only thing keeping him going at this point.  
If it wasn’t for him he would have just sat somewhere and just wait for time to pass…

“I just want to go home.”

  Home was a word seldom used between them now. After what happened, they both tried not to think about home too much. But moments like this … it was needed.  
Sean gently ran a hand through Daniel’s hair and gently kisses his forehead.

“Hey, me too. Me too, buddy.”

  His voice was soft. It took him to all the nights of nightmares that led to this. That lead to them in a comfortable bed again.  
To the nights before the incident, when he would go to Sean when he couldn’t sleep. Sean always had his back.

  Daniel depended on his brother so much.

  They sat like that for what felt like hours. Sean holding Daniel and running his hand through his hair and Daniel sniffling against his chest. They both didn’t want to move from the spot. But Sean finally broke the embrace to move to his bag.

  Daniel remembered Brody and wished that they could check up on him… but before he could ask if they would ever get to see what happened to him … Sean was handing over the small picture of their dad. Sean sat down beside Daniel again and nodded towards the picture.

“Abuela gave us another picture of him… so you can have that one. There’s a small enough pocket to keep it in. Then we can both have pictures of him.”

  It was once again another hand-me-down. But something about this one meant hundred times more. Dad had touched this picture.

  Rubbing his eyes, he nodded and gently held the picture close to his chest. If he imagined hard enough, he could see his dad’s smile. The thought alone made him want to cry again … but he reached over and grabbed his new backpack – Sean’s old bag – and unzipped the front pocket. Carefully, he placed the picture inside to keep it safe. Locking eyes with the eyes of his dad , he zipped the pocket back up and looked to his brother.

  Sean offered a smile and reached over, ruffling his hair before standing up. He gently pulled his brother to his feet and gestured towards the door.

“Abuela made some brownies. Let’s go help her cut it up before grandpa eats them all.”

  Danny nodded and glanced at the bag sitting alone on the bed. Daniel was used to hand-me-downs from his brother…

  But these hand-me-downs meant the world.


End file.
